Not Losing Weight

[SunsetRunner]

Good afternoon!

I've been going at this by myself, but I finally decided to stop in and see what others may say.

In the past (while I was in college), I was very active, but a couple of years ago I got a full-time job, marriage and all the fun responsibilities, so I stopped working out like I used to (7 days a week, with breaks only if I had a cold).

I've been bringing myself back into it, but the weight doesn't seem to be coming off. It's frustrating! I only weight myself once a week on a Monday, to log it before I start the week off. For the past 3 of those, I barely saw any change, apart from 2 pounds initially.

Hence, a question of how accurate is FitBit tracking. I tend to presume it's not AWFULLY accurate, in terms of calorie burn during exercise, but what about other aspects?

I work out 6 days a week for 1.5 hours (intensive circuit for 30 minutes & elliptical for 30 minutes before and after that), my average calorie intake for a day is around 1500, which is a comfortable range for me, and allows me the benefit of eating a bit more on the weekends, when I want to have a meal out with family, for example.

Still, the fact that the weight isn't coming off is frustrating. What could be an issue? Just looking for feedback from people who've been through the process.

My averages / day:

Steps - 12000

Floors - 7

Miles - 5.2

Calorie Burn - 4000

Active Minutes - 125

Stats:

Height - 6ft

Weight, atm: 262lbs

To note after all that: I do have a lot of muscle. I did close combat martial arts for a while, so I have absolutely zero issue with exercise in terms of intensity (it's hard as hell, but my body can manage it still). Obviously, it's not perfect and I want to die after each workout, but I don't feel like I'm working at max capacity, yet.

I don't feel restricted with food, either, but I am wondering if FitBit tracks calories well. I eat almost the same thing every day though, and it's fine accourding to MyFitnessPal, as well.

Any ideas?

[SunsetRunner]

To update, I've lost 1.2lbs the past week overall. I did somehow lost 3.2 and then gain 2 over the weekend, but alas, at least the morning result on Monday is lower. It is VERY frustrating and I would love to figure out the reason, but so far, I don't have ideas. I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary but I do feel slightly unwell today - blaming it on eating a food I haven't for a month and my body revolting.

I started weighing myself everyday just to see how my diet/times I eat affect how much I weigh.

And I think I've found a solution for myself, at least in terms of food. I still have a low intake (1500 a day maximum, including weekends), but I've changed the times I eat.

I now eat a big breakfast - I get up at 5am, since I'm a veeeeeery slow morning person, but that does mean I have a little extra time to cook, and eat an actual breakfast. I steer clear from cereal since I don't trust it much, but I have been making things like avocado toast, scrambled eggs, etc. It seems to have helped! The difference during last week was dramatic.

That kind of means I eat almost half of my calories at breakfast, and then split the rest between lunch, dinner, and afternoon 'snack'. My dinner is the lightest and usually I just have a salad or some fruit. I'll see what happens - and how fast I lose the weekend weight, if at all, but it seems that switching times in the day did kind of help.

[waffle1]

Nice! 1 lb a week is a great rate of weight loss. I wouldn't pay too much attention to day-to-day fluctuations -- I would look at the past 14 days and see what the trend is. Daily weight can fluctuate quite a bit, sometimes up to 5% of your body weight, mainly due to things like sodium intake, water intake, and other factors. It can certainly be frustrating, especially the first few weeks when you theoretically have only lost a few pounds and with one salty day, your weight measurement is suddenly higher than when you first started. But if you're actually losing weight, you'll see this show up in the trend over time.

[Baltoscott]

1.2 lbs is good progress.  Daily changes are often large and represent water retention that can change a lot every day or even hour. The trend looks good.  I would keep doing what you are doing for the next few weeks before making any changes, but ...

I wonder how much of the 12K daily step total you reported comes from the 1.5 hrs/day you do in the gym?  If it is half or more, you may be compensating and conserving energy the rest of the day (and maybe even while you are at the gym).  If that is the case, you may need to up the calories a bit to keep your energy level up throughout the day so you move more.  I know it is not intuitive "to eat more to lose more" and I usually don't think adding calories helps, but it may if you find yourself sitting or lying around a lot, or have low energy during your workouts, that may be the reason why.  

Again, I wouldn't make any more changes for a few weeks.  You need to give what you are doing time to work before you make any adjustments.  Part of the process is just getting good information about what works for you, and you need to give each step time to make an impact.

And avocado toast is awesome!

[SunsetRunner]

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@Baltoscott wrote:

1.2 lbs is good progress.  Daily changes are often large and represent water retention that can change a lot every day or even hour. The trend looks good.  I would keep doing what you are doing for the next few weeks before making any changes, but ...

I wonder how much of the 12K daily step total you reported comes from the 1.5 hrs/day you do in the gym?  If it is half or more, you may be compensating and conserving energy the rest of the day (and maybe even while you are at the gym).  If that is the case, you may need to up the calories a bit to keep your energy level up throughout the day so you move more.  I know it is not intuitive "to eat more to lose more" and I usually don't think adding calories helps, but it may if you find yourself sitting or lying around a lot, or have low energy during your workouts, that may be the reason why.  

Again, I wouldn't make any more changes for a few weeks.  You need to give what you are doing time to work before you make any adjustments.  Part of the process is just getting good information about what works for you, and you need to give each step time to make an impact.

And avocado toast is awesome!

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I've sworn off making major changes at the moment - though I do add some minor tweaks and see how my body reacts. While 1.2 lbs isn't bad, it's not the biggest result, so I'm just trying to make sure that I've /actually/ lost weight, and that it's not minor fluctuations.

Amazingly - or maybe not really - I've started reading up on the subject so I think a few things may be the reason my weight is being very resistant to everything I do.

First of all, I am the 'yo yo' person. I've lost and gained weight at least 4-5 times in the past 10 years, without really doing anything for weight loss. It was usually just a lifestyle change or something that I didn't do mindfully, so now, I'm fairly certain my body is not happy with us going through that cycle again.

In terms of steps, I get about 8-9k, depending on the day, before I leave work and work out. I take 20 minute breaks so I get my hour walking in and usually I'm about 80% done with my FitBit goals by 5pm when I hit the gym. I can say that I think I'm stronger in terms of the workouts, but again, I don't know if it's just wishful thinking at this point.

In terms of calories - I'm trying to keep them at a more or less reasonable amount. It varies from day to day, but I'm not really a big eater in general (sounds baffling, I know).

When I was back in College a few years back, I've kind of fallen into a habit because of a bad relationship, and eating mindfully never really happened for me until I started looking at what I eat in around March. Before that, I usually just had snacks, and most of my calorie intake came from random things, like chocolate bars and a hell lot of rice. I'm fairly certain that was the opposite of healthy. When I trained with a personal trainer about two years back, to improve general well-being, she was horrified at my eating habits. I could eat nothing for five days apart from buckets of coffee and then binge one day, consuming three days worth of calories. It's been a struggle to overcome that and make myself eat at reasonable times, rather than end up leaving one meal for the evening and 'eating' coffee at all other times. 

I'll see how it goes. So far, the switching dinner and breakfast calories helped, as well as cutting out some foods that are technically kind of healthy, but maybe not for me (bananas, cherries, grapes, etc.). Small tweaks seem to have some kind of difference.

On a brighter note, my weird weekend spike went back down to my weight on Friday, so I am going to assume it was water weight and I ate something that was too salty. Since I did eat with the family and not my own cooked food, that's possible.

[SunsetRunner]

So, I've finally logged into TrendWeight, which I often forget, to see how I'm doing.

I log my weight every day starting June 10th (used to do it once a week), just to see the pattern.

Question I have is how does it calculate how much extra I am burning?

I am feeling more than confused and discouraged.

Let's take the past two weeks.

My calorie intake average (yes, I do measure everything and weigh it and don't eat anything that I can't count) per day is 1463 calories, which I think is reasonable, considering I exercise.

I work out for an hour and a half 6 days a week, 1 hour cardio (elliptical) and half hour circuit HIT. I take the calories burned in that with a pinch of salt as for FitBit, but I assume that does burn off /some/ calories.

Anyway, question:

How in the world I'm only at 300 calorie deficit according to TrendWeight?

My BMR is 2080 according to my calculations. Again, taking it with a pinch of salt, I calculate it at about 1950 instead.

I'd get the 300 if I wasn't exercising, given that BMR is an average, but how does it work if I do exercise, walk all my steps, and all that? I'm trying to figure if I need to eat even less at this point, because I probably could, but it seems like a MASSIVE difference.

[waffle1]

I'm pretty sure TrendWeight just uses moving averages to calculate your weight trend, and then uses the 3500 cals/lb conversion to figure out your calorie deficit. So for example, if your weight trend is showing 1 lb/wk loss, then that's 3500 calories burned, or 500 cals/day. The 3500 cal/lb rule isn't perfect, but it has been shown to be roughly accurate for most people in most situations.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but if you were truly eating 1500 cals/day, you would expect to see a much faster weight loss rate. I know you say that you are very rigorous in calculating calories and that you weigh everything, but you're probably off by a few hundred calories per day if not more. For what it's worth, studies have shown that almost all people underreport their intake by hundreds of calories, so you wouldn't be alone! (for example, this paper in the Lancet demonstrates that participants in a study reported to researchers they were maintaining a -1000 calorie deficit per day, when they were actually only at a -100 calorie/day deficit).

The science is robust in this area, so there are basically two explanations:

1. Your body is an exception and your BMR is much much lower than what models estimate (in which case I encourage you to consult a doctor)

2. You're eating more than you think you are

That being said, 300 calories a day is a great deficit, and it sounds like you're very active which is great for your health. If you keep it up, you will reach your goal weight in time.

[Baltoscott]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
...

Anyway, question:

How in the world I'm only at 300 calorie deficit according to TrendWeight?

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@waffle1 is correct.  Trendweight uses a moving average of your recent weigh-ins, giving more weight (pun intended) to the most recent weigh-ins.  I don't know the formula, but it you hit the help button at the top of the page there is a lot of information.  The developer says it is based it on the Hacker's Diet by John Walker.  (It's an ebook, a decent read and it's free).  Trendweight works best with daily input (weigh in the same time each day).  Your 300 calorie deficit is Trendweight looking backwards estimating your negative caloric balance based on how much you've lost.  If you want to speed up the process you may have to eat fewer calories or move more throughout the day.  

Your BMR is an estimate of your daily calorie burn at rest based on based on an average person of your weight, age and sex.  Your metabolism may be an order of magnitude slower than the average person  (Not all cars of the same weight get the same gas mileage, and not all people at the same weight burn the same number of calories at rest, even though we have BMR calculators that give the appearance mathematical certainty).  

Or, you may just need to give this process more time.  You don't get straight-line results from day to day. When I started losing weight this January, the first month was the slowest (about .5 lbs/week) and I was eating the fewest calories at that time (around 1500 cal/day).  By February I was losing around 1.5 lbs/week, and I was eating closer to 2000 calories/day.  To some extent, I think this is a game of momentum, but in the end, if you are really in a caloric deficit you will lose weight.  

[FrancesConley]

It is strange but I think you should try to make some changes in your diet and exercise routine to see a visible difference in your body. You can meet some experts to haven clear view about your condition. I think it will be helpful to get desired results. 

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[EXPATBRIT]

A healthy rate of weight loss is about a lb a week. You have to be patient with this process.  I'm 6' 4" and had reach 260lb+ about 2 yrs ago.  And it certainly wasn't muscle.  I cut some obvious things out. No more soda, chips, candy.  Started drinking coffee black.  Most days I was able to be about 200 calories below weight maintenance levels. And gradually over the course of 2 yrs, I'm down to 208.  Exercise helps.  I do weights about 3-4 times a week, 90 mins max each session.  And found it went better if I actually got 7 hours of sleep. 

What exactly are you eating?  The composition of your diet is probably more important than the number of calories.  What does a typical day's food look like? Are you eating high calorie but highly nutritious foods like avocado and nuts?  And are you drinking lots more water?

And most important, how are you feeling physically?  You start to feel good physically, the process takes on a life of it's own.  But if you always feel you are depriving yourself, your body senses that.

[dmblackwell]

Here's a couple of possibilities:

You mentioned that you eat frozen meals for lunch.  These are very high in sodium which could be a factor.  I used to have Progresso Light soups for lunch and noticed that when I ate them on a regular basis, I retained water because of the high amount of sodium.  I cut back on these and the weight loss started up again.

Are you drinking enough water?

Are you getting enough fiber in your diet?

Try taking monthly measurements.  The weight might not be coming off as quickly as you want but if your losing inches, you're still heading in the right direction.

[Teacherange403]

I'm having the same issue.  My workouts are not quite as intense as yours, but I am logging walking, gardening (which can be great cardio), Total Gym routines, recline cycling, and some step routines.  I'm trying to go low-carb at around 1500 calories per day. The first couple weeks I lost about six pounds--typical of switching to low carb--but I'm not losing anything else. In fact, I've gained about a pound and-a-half back in the last week or so.  I look forward to reading comments for your post.  I'm looking to lose about 50 pounds, so I can't go super-intense yet, but I hope to get there.

[Teacherange403]

Thank you, GeekyGecko, for posting your journey.  I'm learning a lot from you and from the people commenting.  One question for all out there:  Do you recommend any really good books to help me learn about fitness and diet?  There's so much out there, and I'd like to find some excellent resources to help me understand low-carb diets and fitness for women better.  I coached for 20 years, but I know I need to learn more beyond the basics.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi all,

I've not checked in for a while though I have been continuing and tweaking as I go. With more time passing, I think I've figured a few things out.

So far, I'm down 19.7lbs from where I started, so that's about 10 pounds per month - though the first I did drop a lot once I switched to a healthier lifestyle.

Here are a few tweaks I did do that actually made me start losing weight instead of seemingly being on the same number all the time:

1. Food: I've really concentrated on what I eat. I found that for me, it's all about timing. I eat breakfast early, at about 7.30, and then can have some fruit before lunch. I eat lunch at 12.30. Then my dinner is at 5pm. I've stuck to the same routine and the same times to eat for the past month, and that did make my weight start moving straight away - which is great. It's not a crazy lot, but it's slowly going and at least is now steady. I still spike up a bit on the weekends, but compared to 3lbs it was, now it's only about 1lbs and I tend to lose it + some more by Tuesday.

2. Weight log: I log myself every day. Mainly it's so that I can see what the trend is and what needs to be changed. It also keeps me on track so that I know how much I weigh and can see the changes - plus this did help me figure out how my body works, including all the fun feminine things (here's me finding out I gain 5lbs during those times and drop them about 4th day of the cycle).

3. Exercise: I've majorly switched to cardio. I don't know if this helped a lot, but it definitely made me feel a bit less tired. I still exercise 6 times a week, and get my steps in, but I picked up running instead of doing strength training for now, since I want to lose weight.

I also bought a new scale! It's been great to see other statistics, like fat % and water % and muscle %. It actually helped a lot to put things into perspective because some days I weigh a bit more but my fat % is the same and my water is higher. So I do love it!

I still have (gasp) 70 lbs to go. I'm still trying new things, but it's interesting to see that weight FINALLY started moving - I think it's mainly that my body stopped resisting the changes.

[Olive_oil]

I find cutting back on breads and pasta helps tremendously. I also increase my steps 15k or walk longer on the weekend. I also exercise on a stationary bike while watching my show.

You will see a difference in about 2weeks. Pre-planing healthy snacks is also a must.

Add me if you like. We can motivate each other .

[sdpipes]

Have you considered eliminating gluten and dairy products.  I could not lose weight to save my soul.  Cut those two out and off came the weight.  I follow a Paleo diet and weight comes off but also an overall great feeling. 

[Baltoscott]

That's great progress @SunsetRunner.  

Daily weight logging seems to freak a lot of people out, but I think it is great feedback and once you've done it for a while you realize that the day-to-day changes are mostly noise and you are not shocked if you see the scale go up by 2 or 3 lbs because it has happened before and you know it will come back down in a few days so long as you are on your plan.

Your comment on meal timing makes sense to me.  I know you don't snack, so keeping eating down to 3 or 4 times per day makes tracking easier, and the regular timing probably makes your weigh-ins more consistent.  I've been reading a book called Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss ... by Georgie Fear and based on that have moved from eating 5 or 6 times/day to 3-4.  It seems a little odd to say it, but I never felt satisfied when I was eating a lot of small meals over the course of a day and that seemed to contribute to overeating and some unplanned snacks -- especially in the evening.  I'm still counting calories but by putting those calories into fewer meals, I feel satisfied after eating and I'm not hungry at all until maybe an hour or so before the next meal.  

[warreng2104]

Do you want to lose weight or fat? I’ll assume its fat you want to destroy.

Anaerobic activity uses up carbs, drain glycogen, and ultimately will help to mobilize fat to be burned.  But you still need to work in the oxidative pathway to burn said fat.

So bust your **ahem** with some hiit, then go for a long walk, row, swim, bike, or whatever. You have to stay in the oxidative pathway.  Assuming you used up all your carbs during your hiit your body cannot help but burn fat.  It’s really that simple. 

Sorry for the over simplification of the energy systems but I'm pressed for time. 

[pjf53]

I do find the fitbit overstates calories burned.  On the other hand it has been key to my success.  After losing 30 pounds I was stuck for 6 weeks.  I averaged just over 2000 calories in and 4000 burned calories.  Given my results I'm convinced Fitbit overstates calories burned or I underestimated calories consumed or both.  I had increased my calorie content a little (2,500) to "glide" to the finish but stopped cold instead.  So I went back to 2000 and was still stuck.  Five days ago I started an eating program called Whole30. For 30 days you eliminate all sugar/substitutes, grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol as well as MSG, Sulfites, and Carrageen (never heard of this one). After the 30 days you reintroduce each one separately and monitor the impacts. Basically it is three meals per day each having a protein portion (8-12 oz), vegetable portion (rest of plate), a fruit, and a fat portion (olive oil, cashews, avocado). In just 4 days I broke the plateau and dropped 5 pounds.  The purpose of the program is not weight loss but weight loss is a result for most.  Google Whole 30 or buy the book "It Starts with Food" for more info. The only cheating I do is counting calories for the plan (still 2,000) and weighing myself daily.  These violate their rules but were a key to my initial success and I was not about to abandon the.  Good luck on your journey. 

[pjf53]

I'm convinced weight training is key to eliminating fat

[Baltoscott]

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@pjf53 wrote:

I do find the fitbit overstates calories burned.  ....  Five days ago I started an eating program called Whole30. For 30 days you eliminate all sugar/substitutes, grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol as well as MSG, Sulfites, and Carrageen (never heard of this one). After the 30 days you reintroduce each one separately and monitor the impacts. Basically it is three meals per day each having a protein portion (8-12 oz), vegetable portion (rest of plate), a fruit, and a fat portion (olive oil, cashews, avocado). ...

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I agree that fitbit overstates calories burned.  It is easy enough to adjust for, though, and I've lost nearly 40 lbs since early January.  You just need to keep track of what you are doing so you can adjust when necessary.  That is the main reason I've been logging everything I eat, but there are certainly other ways to go about it.

Whole30 sounds interesting, but the description does make me grin a bit.  It is basically what I'm doing except for the avoiding "grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol" part. 🙂 .  To be serious, I have cut back on alcohol, and I also gave it up for a month at the start. (One problem with alcohol is that it is empty calories, the other is that it kills your will power, making it much harder not to eat high caloric, low nutrition food).  I also eat fewer baked goods so fewer grains, but I've increased dairy (unsweetened yogurt and frozen berries and mango is great).  The core of what I eat is similar, protein (about 130-160 grams/day -- some of this is from unflavored protein powder because it is hard to get that much protein when you are trying to eat at a caloric deficit), and most of the rest from veggies, fruit, and some fat (avocado toast is awesome!).

The other thing you described in Whole30 is three meals per day.  I think this really helps.  If you are eating at a caloric deficit -- which is needed to lose weight -- you'll likely be hungry.  One way to avoid being hungry all the time is to eat enough at meals so you feel satisfied for a few hours after eating.  Dividing your daily calories by 3 instead of 5 or 6 means that at least for a few hours after eating breakfast, lunch and dinner you won't be hungry, and you will be less likely to binge snack or graze.  

I am also I fan of weight training, though I get plenty of cardio too through my bike commutes.